While Venus Envy is a novel with a new set of characters and a new set of problems, it, like Brown's first novel Rubyfruit Jungle (1973; see separate entry), draws heavily and primarily on the gay experience. The main character is again a gutsy, outspoken gay woman, whose philosophies of life closely follow those of the author, and who even quotes verbatim from Brown's unorthodox writer's manual, Starting/row Scratch (1988). Like most of Brown's novels, Venus Envy is a novel of the South and more precisely a study of family and society in a small town in Virginia. This setting forges obvious links with some of Brown's earlier titles such as Southern Discomfort (1982), Wish You Were Here (1990), and Rest in Pieces (1992).

The text is further linked to Southern Discomfort in its extensive use of mythology, which Brown uses as "cultural shorthand" to enrich and enliven Venus Envy.